Carl Chakmakian

AMC's Sultan of Speed

Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines

When American Motors decided it was time to change its image and begin to appeal to younger buyers, it realized that getting involved with motorsports was the best action it could take. AMC's styling department was already hard at work designing new cars with greater "youth appeal." But everyone understood that looks alone weren't going to be enough. AMC, the company that once famously declared that, "The only race we're interested in is the human race," knew the time had come to get involved in the performance-car market, including racing. But who would lead that effort?
Surprisingly enough, the company discovered that there were a number of performance enthusiasts among its employees. But to take the lead in AMC's performance makeover, they needed someone who was both a full-blooded car enthusiast and an extremely capable manager. And, of course, it would help if that person was also either an engineer or had engineering experience. Obviously, that was a tall order.
But as luck would have it, there was a remarkable young guy in AMC's Product Information Department who seemed custom-made for the part. Carl Chakmakian was a certified car nut, a racing enthusiast who knew his way around cars. He was also an automotive engineer, having graduated from the University of Michigan. In the early 1950s, Chakmakian had worked as a research engineer for Ford Motor Company, then later moved to component maker Kelsey-Hayes.
Chakmakian was indisputably a dynamic guy, and a dyed-in-the-wool performance enthusiast. He was a pilot in the Naval Air Reserve, after serving as an active-duty pilot from 1944-'46. He was president of the local chapter of the Sports Car Club of America and raced sports cars on weekends. Chakmakian had joined Nash-Kelvinator in March 1953 at the urging of fellow pilot and friend Bill Reddig, who at the time was assistant to Nash's director of styling. Upon joining Nash, Chakmakian's title was Assistant Technical Advisor; his first assignment there was to conduct secret testing of Nash's upcoming Metropolitan at a brand-new NASCAR racetrack in Raleigh, North Carolina. Right from the start, Chakmakian pioneered a new idea at Nash: using movie cameras to capture the testing on film, so it could later be used for advertising and sales training purposes.
Sometime after joining Nash, Chakmakian began looking for a car for personal use, naturally picking the one that would appeal to any young blood: a 1953 Nash-Healey sports car. It was quick, it handled beautifully and it was cool. After all, Nash-Healey had achieved a tremendous record at Le Mans. But while the Nash-Healey was fast, it was apparently not fast enough for Chakmakian; he swapped out the stock six-cylinder engine and installed a 327-cu.in. AMC V-8. To help other Nash-Healey owners looking to upgrade, he wrote a manual detailing how to make the swap.
When Nash became a part of American Motors in 1954, Chakmakian stayed on. He was the guy who took AMC's hot new 1957 Rebel to Daytona, where it set times that became the talk of the town. Surprisingly, the Rambler Rebel was the fastest American sedan for 1957. After such a strong showing, it seems a shame that AMC didn't continue to devote some attention to the high-performance market; sadly, they moved on.
For the next 10 years, Chakmakian handled a wide range of duties with American Motors, among the most famous of which were the Rambler fuel economy runs. Using meticulous engine tuning and precise driving techniques, he and fellow driver Les Viland set fuel economy records the Big Three couldn't touch. And it seems that just about every day after work, Chakmakian either raced, worked on his cars or attended racing competitions. And why not? Even though AMC wasn't building performance cars, he was still a car guy.
So Carl Chakmakian was the natural choice to direct AMC's return to the world of high-performance cars and racing. He began his stint as manager of AMC's Performance Activities Department in September 1967. Quickly deciding that AMC should get involved in every area of performance, they put things in motion: an agreement was rapidly made with Grant Industries to build a Rebel Funny Car. Separately, AMC engineers also began development work on some hotted-up Rebels, and over the course of time, those experiments eventually evolved into the 1970 Rebel Machine.
Fellow enthusiast and AMC employee Jim Alexander helped convince Chakmakian to get AMC into Trans-Am road racing with its new Javelin ("Don't Underestimate the Underdog," Hemmings Classic Car #90, March 2011). AMC's Trans-Am racing team made a good showing even in its first year.
Then, when AMC's new AMX was introduced partway through the 1968 model year, Chakmakian hired Craig and Lee Breedlove to do a series of performance runs at Bonneville to help establish a reputation for the new car as a serious speed machine. Incredibly, the husband and wife driving team set 106 national and international speed records with the car. In Class C, they set a new record for average speed over a 24-hour run of 140.790 MPH, shattering the old record of 102.310. For the 1,000-kilometer standing start, the AMX averaged 156.548 MPH--the old record was 148.702.
Chakmakian also worked hard to convince performance parts manufacturers to begin producing goodies for AMC's new 290- and 343-cu.in. V-8s, along with other "Group 19" performance parts. The list grew, and soon included Edelbrock manifolds, Holley carbs, Detroit Locker rear ends, Lakewood bell housings, and more. Later, Hurst Performance Parts was hired to develop specialty cars.
Chakmakian was also the man behind the Javelin Speed Spectacular Contest, in which teams prepared and tuned AMC Javelins to run in the Gas Production Class. He even included a highly unusual incentive to spur contestants to give a maximum effort: Members of the winning team would each get one of the Bonne-ville Javelins as a prize!
And Chakmakian didn't stop there--as he saw it, there were more ways than one to get involved in racing... many more. Building on their earlier excursion into Funny Cars, he had AMC sponsor a Javelin Funny Car under the supervision of header manufacturer Doug Thorley; it consistently ran well over 180 MPH in the quarter mile. There was even an attempt at an Indy car powered by a Rambler six-cylinder engine. Incredibly, it toured the track at 153 MPH during the 1967 qualification week.
To anyone watching, Carl Chakmakian appeared to be everywhere, and seemed to be doing everything. Coworkers wondered when he found the time to sleep. "He was an intense individual," recalled Jim Alexander, manager of the T.E.A.M. (Technical Employees of American Motors) race team. "Carl was the hardest-working guy you ever saw. When you came into work in the morning, he was already there, and when you left in the evening, Carl was still at his desk. If we'd had a hundred more guys like him, AMC could have ruled the world."
It was during the Trans-Am Javelin's first season that Chakmakian's skills were most on display. Under his direction, AMC had established a new subsidiary called Javelin Racing Team, Inc (JRT) with ex-race driver Jim Jeffords in charge, to "put its product on the track." To speed things up, Chakmakian arranged for Traco Engineering to do the initial engine development. However, the major part of the engine work was done by Chicago-based Kaplan Engineering, a well-qualified company owned by JRT vice-president Ronnie Kaplan.
The new Javelin race car debuted on March 23, 1968, at the Trans-Am race in Sebring, Florida. Naturally, Chakmakian was right there trackside. Two Javelins were entered, though one eventually had to drop out because of a broken exhaust valve. The remaining Javelin did extremely well, considering this was its first race. When the results were in, the Pete Revson/Skip Scott Javelin had captured 5th place in its class. For a new car and a new team driving for the first time in international competition against well-seasoned teams, it was a very solid performance--and positive proof that AMC was a serious contender. Interestingly, out of a total of 68 cars entered in the race, only 36 managed to finish.
Although the seeds had been planted, it would be up to others to nurture them and watch them grow. Fourteen months after he began his mission to establish an AMC presence in all the different performance arenas, Chakmakian bowed out. In November 1968, he ended his stint in Performance Activities and returned to his position as Manager, Product Information Department.
Apparently, this was planned all along: He would spearhead the initial effort, then turn the work over to others. Recalls Jim Alexander, "I don't know if he ever really left the old job [in Product Information]... I think that during that time, he may have done both." Now, though, it was time for others to step in to continue and expand the programs he started.
Carl Chakmakian continued with AMC for the rest of his career, and forever remained a performance car enthusiast. He passed away in 1998, leaving behind many friends and admirers, the Nash-Healey he'd owned since 1954, and a tremendous legacy

This article originally appeared in the September, 2011 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.